U.S. government officials and private security firms have described “a surge in sophisticated computer espionage by Iran, culminating in a series of cyberattacks against State Department officials over the past month,” The New York Times reported Tuesday. The Iranian hackers have used the social media accounts of government employees to gain access to the accounts of friends also working for the government. Facebook alerted the individuals in question that their accounts had been compromised by a state-sponsored hacker. “The Iranians have not been as destructive as they could be, but they are getting more aggressive in cyberespionage, which they know is less likely to prompt a response from the United States,” said James Lewis, a cyber expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Researchers at Check Point, an Israeli cybersecurity company, said that the cyberattacks shrunk to zero in June and July of this year – the final months before the signing of the Iran deal – and then picked up again in August, after the deal was signed. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal also reported on the hacking phenomenon, emphasizing that the surge in activity coincided with the Iranian detention of Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American who called for better relations between the two countries.

The New England Patriots honored American terror victim Ezra Schwartz with a moment of silence before their Monday Night Football game against the Buffalo Bills yesterday. Schwartz was an 18-year-old student and lifelong Patriots fan from the Boston area who was killed by a Palestinian terrorist last week.“

Ladies and Gentlemen, in a month in which the NFL salutes the service of our brave men and women in our armed forces, we also pause to remember the many who have recently lost their lives in senseless terrorist attacks abroad,” said John Dolan, the Patriots’ public address announcer, during the nationwide broadcast. "Last Thursday this reality struck close to home when 18 year-old Ezra Schwartz, a native of Sharon, Massachusetts and a huge Patriots fan, was gunned down nearly 5,500 miles from home while studying abroad. At this time we would like to honor Ezra Schwartz and the hundreds of victims like him with a moment of silence.”

The tribute was first proposed by former Knesset member Dov Lipman, who wrote a letterto Patriots owner Robert Kraft asking the team to honor Schwartz. Several hours before the game it was announced that Kraft had agreed.

This isn’t the first that Kraft has honored an American victim of Palestinian terrorism. Last year, after American IDF soldier Max Steinberg was killed fighting against Hamas, Kraft sent a letter to Steinberg’s parents, writing, “I have taken the liberty of reaching out to you since I noticed him wearing a New England Patriots cap in one of the broadcasted photos. He represents the consummate patriot and I am forever grateful for the sacrifices he made to keep our beloved Israel safe.”

Schwartz was one of three people killed last week when a Palestinian with an Uzi submachine gun opened fire on cars in a traffic jam near Alon Shvut in the West Bank. He was delivering food to soldiers at the time of the attack. (via TheTower.org)

When 130 people were killed and 368 injured in a series of terror attacks in Paris earlier this month on November 13, 15 clinicians trained by Israeli experts fanned out to area hospitals to offer psychotrauma interventions as the victims were brought in. These French mental-health professionals from OSE, the largest Jewish welfare organization in Paris, were among a group of 80 who had been trained by members of the Israel Trauma Coalition (ITC) following the terror attack on a Paris kosher supermarket last January. ITC Director Talia Levanon tells ISRAEL21c that Israel’s unfortunate experience and expertise in the psychological effects of terror bring a critical perspective to foreign professionals more used to dealing with isolated incidents. As France is suffering such attacks on a more frequent basis, the ITC and Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) are stepping up efforts to train clinicians there – even as a wave of terror in Israel is keeping the ITC very busy at home. “Like people in Israel, the French are getting ready for long-time duress, which requires a different approach,” explains Levanon. “In Israel, we know there is no safe place or time and I think now people in France understand this. They understand they are very vulnerable.” Following the supermarket attack, Levanon went to Paris to map out needs and create appropriate partnerships and programs to meet those needs. Using a $65,000 grant from the UJA Federation of New York, ITC then sent two trainers, Ruvie Rogel from the Community Stress Prevention Center and Tel Hai College Prof. Mooli Lahad, a specialist in drama therapy and bibliotherapy to treat psychotrauma. Now the ITC will bring France its community-based approach to healing, resilience and training, adapting it to local needs and culture in order to put effective preparedness and response mechanisms in place. (via Israel21c)